


Secret

by hollow_city



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Bullying, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Character Death, M/M, natasha is the mama spider, peter is sad, slight whump, the avengers are angry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-11
Updated: 2016-10-11
Packaged: 2018-08-21 20:44:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8259991
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hollow_city/pseuds/hollow_city
Summary: Peter has a secret. It has nothing to do with the Avengers, and a lot to do with the new kid at school, who's a total asshole.





	

The first time Peter sees the new boy in his grade, he isn't impressed, and for good reason.

He storms into class twenty minutes late- which really isn't the part that sets Peter off, he's always late- and the teacher introduces him as 'James'. Peter doesn't like James, who insisted on being called 'Jimmy'.

For the rest of class, Jimmy sits at the back of the room with his feet thrown up on his desk and his hands behind his head. His eyes are closed most of the time, and the only times he opens them is to sneak a glance at Gwen. Peter doesn't like that. Gwen doesn't notice. 

When the bell rings, Peter's out of there in seconds, while Jimmy follows quickly behind. 

"Hey, do I have something on my face?" He catches up to Peter, who's glowering by his locker, jealousy burning in his stomach, because he's like that. 

"What?" Peter mumbles, peering over at Jimmy. 

"Well, you were staring at me the entire time. Figured there must be something interesting about me," he continues, and Peter immediately catches onto the patronizing tone settling into Jimmy's voice.

"Nope. Nothing," Peter says shortly, refraining from crunching his fingers around his locker door and completely obliterating the strong metal. He closes his locker and turns away, leaving Jimmy to lean against the wall with a look of contemplation on his face. 

Peter really doesn't like Jimmy. 

 

* * *

****

The next time Peter sees Jimmy is in between math and science, and he  wishes he didn't. 

"Peter, right?" Jimmy's leaning against the locker beside Peter's again, and the hero has to close his eyes briefly to gather the strength to deal with him again. 

"Mhm," Peter hums, shoving a textbook in his locker. 

"Someone's moody," Jimmy huffs, pouting. Peter raises an eyebrow and glances at Jimmy through the corner of his eye, unimpressed.

"Just tired," Peter lies, slamming his locker shut. He begins walking towards the science room, and of course, Jimmy follows.

"I've got a question."

He sighs and rolls his shoulders. "What?"

Jimmy nods his head towards Gwen, who's talking to Flash about something. With the arrival of Spiderman, Flash had grown more tolerable. He didn't make Peter want to throw him from the roof anymore, and he didn't make him nervous whenever he got close to Gwen. They have a mutual respect, but they aren't friends. 

"She got a boyfriend?" he asks, raising his eyebrows. Peter immediately stops walking, causing Jimmy to nearly bump into him.

"Yes," he says, "stay away from her."

"Possessive," Jimmy hisses, crossing his arms. 

Peter really doesn't like Jimmy.

 

* * *

****

As it turns out, Jimmy really doesn't like Peter either. He rather annoys him, to be honest. Peter finds this out the hard way.

"Hey, Parker!" Jimmy shouts down the hall. He's gathered a group of friends by now; it's been a month since he transferred to Midtown. 

Peter's ears turn red at the sudden attention, and he shoots Gwen a look, to which she sighs. She knows he doesn't like Jimmy, she doesn't like him much either. He's been trying to hit on her since he asked Peter about her boyfriend. Speaking of, after that, Peter had refused to reveal who it was, which meant he spent a week prying at Peter's resolve, trying to get the answer out of him. That entire week, Peter wanted to climb to the top of the tower and chuck him off. 

He doesn't respond to Jimmy's call, which he regrets immediately. The taller boy had been getting progressively violent with his encounters with Peter, and he doesn't appreciate it. Of course, he's never actually hit Peter. But this is when that changes. 

Jimmy's hand comes down on Peter's locker door, slamming it shut. Peter takes in a quick breath, barely slipping his hand out of the way. Of course, he would've just broken the metal, but that's just a tad bit mysterious. 

"You deaf or something?" He sneers, leaning against the lockers. 

"Nope," Peter mumbles, turning to walk away with Gwen, only to Jimmy grab his backpack and swing him around. 

"Don't walk away from me!" Jimmy hisses, slamming Peter against the wall. His eyes widen in surprise and Gwen gasps. 

Peter tries to hide a smile, but he nearly can't.

"Something funny?" Jimmy snarls. Peter's face immediately falls and he shakes his head frantically. 

"Let him go!" Gwen says angrily, only to receive a hand to the stomach as Jimmy pushes her away. 

"Shut up." He rolls his eyes, and Peter's heart jumps as he refrains from beating the living shit out of him. Before he can move again, pain explodes in his eye. He freezes and stares up at Jimmy. 

That was the first time Jimmy hit Peter.

 

* * *

****

That wasn't the last time Jimmy hit Peter. Now, it's shoving and punching and kicking, but all in the name of fun. It's like the way it was when Flash hated him, but Flash never beat him up enough to give him long lasting bruises. Jimmy does.

"You shouldn't let him push you around." Flash frowns as they watch Jimmy plow through the hallway with his group of friends. It's been two months since he transferred, and he's garnered some serious fear and respect from everyone. 

He's not all that nice to Flash either, and now Gwen and Peter have formed a small group with him. He's not nearly as bad as Peter thought he was, and he's slightly more tolerable than he used to be. 

"What do you want me to do?" Peter grumbles, rubbing the bruise on his cheek. It should be gone by the time he gets home, and Gwen promised she'd cover it with her concealer if it didn't. She wants him to tell Steve or Tony, but he refuses every time she says it. He wants to deal with it on his own.

Flash shrugs, before looking over his shoulder at Jimmy, his eyes widening when they see him coming towards them. Peter's eyes close briefly before they pop open again. He needs to gather the strength to deal with him. 

"Parker! You cheating on Gwen with Thompson here?" he sneers, throwing his arm over Peter's shoulder and jostling him roughly. Peter stumbles and shoots Flash an apologetic look.

"Just leave us alone, Jimmy," Peter sighs. He's never shown the bully any fear, and that clearly gets on his nerves. 

"Aw, what's the fun in that?" he laughs, ruffling Peter's hair with a heavy hand. 

Peter just sighs. 

 

* * *

****

And then it gets worse. Jimmy waits until Peter's alone, and then he goes after him. He's given Peter a few beatings bad enough that he had to skip class while he waited for the fractures in his bones to mend. 

"I heard something yesterday," Jimmy says casually as he joins Peter in the hallway after school. The bell has just rung, and Peter stayed behind to ask his teacher about extra credit; Tony was _very_ impressed when he found out that Peter is currently failing math because he's missed so many classes. 

Peter hums in response, adding a bit more speed to his step. Jimmy adjusts and it has no real effect. 

"Your parents died." The words leave Jimmy's mouth with a cheerful tone, and Peter's fists clench tightly. "Didn't they?"

"Who said that?" Peter asks through gritted teeth. 

"That's not important." He waves a hand dismissively. "But I've been trying to figure out why you turned out so fucked up. Guess I know now."

 

* * *

****

The first time the Avengers notice something is wrong is when Peter comes home through the front door. And that's only weird because Tony quite literally put in a window on Peter's floor that opens so he can swing through. He rarely uses the front door. 

"What's wrong with you?" Clint asks from his position sitting on the counter. A slice of pizza is in one hand while his phone is in the other.

"What do you mean?" Peter frowns, dropping his backpack on the floor and continuing towards the fridge. 

"You used the front door. There's only three of us who do that, and one of them is not you." It's true. Clint spends a lot of time on the roof, and always comes from some floor above. Natasha seemingly mysteriously appears, but she really just uses the back doors. Tony usually only leaves the tower in his suit. That leaves Bruce, Steve, and Bucky. They're the only ones who just don't care about epic entrances. 

"I'm tired," Peter lies, closing the door with his foot and dropping his armful of food on the counter. There are two super-soldiers and one-half spider that live in this tower, which means they go through food like there's no tomorrow. Their hyper-metabolisms don't allow for anything less.

"That's bullshit," Clint mumbles around a mouthful of pizza. Peter rolls his eyes in annoyance and proceeds to fix his food.

"Too bad."

 

* * *

****

The next time the Avengers notice something, it's at dinner. They don't often eat dinner all together, or at the same table, but today, they do.

"Did you talk to your math teacher again?" Tony asks, raising his eyebrows. Peter coughs uncomfortably and stares down at his plate.

"No. I forgot," he says, shrugging loosely. "Sorry. I'll do it tomorrow."

The team around the table exchange glances before Steve speaks up.

"Are you okay, Peter?" 

Peter looks up with his eyebrows raised. His cheek stings and feels stiff from the concealer Gwen helped him put on. Jimmy was especially ruthless with his beating between Spanish and science, and he had to miss the first ten minutes while he gathered enough strength to walk on his own. Suffice to say, Gwen yelled at him for five minutes straight, telling him to do something. She doesn't understand why he won't fight back, or why he won't tell his fathers or any of his family. He has good reason, he just won't tell her. 

"Yeah, I'm fine," he mumbles around a mouthful of food. "Why?"

"You wince every time you breathe," Natasha tells him. He freezes with his cup against his lips, his eyes flicking back and forth between each of his family members. 

"Yeah..." he says, drawing out the word. "I took down a few robbers on the way home," he lies smoothly.

"You left your suit at home," she continues, raising an eyebrow. 

"And I was just a casual pedestrian who took some self-defense classes," Peter counters, shrugging. 

"You should've told us," Steve tells him, his eyebrows furrowed with concern.

"Sorry, dad."

 

* * *

****

They didn't think it was a problem, until Peter came home through his window, locked his door and wouldn't speak to anyone. Tony asked JARVIS to unlock the door, but Peter proceeded to override the commands each time. He locked his window and closed the blinds so he couldn't use his suit to get in either. 

"Peter, please open the door," Steve begs from the other side of the door. 

Tony had given up and retired to his lab, locking the door and turning up the music. Then, it was Clint's turn. That didn't work, which was also strange, considering Peter and Clint are a force to be reckoned with. Put the two together in a room and you need to watch your back. Then, it was Natasha's turn. That didn't work either, which was increasingly strange. Clint jokingly calls her 'momma spider' (to which he receives a vicious punch), because she has a soft spot for a certain teenage hero. 

"I don't want to," Peter calls back, which is a surprise as well. Up until this point, he hadn't said a single word. 

"Peter, please. What happened?" Steve's voice quiets down to barely a whisper, but Peter's enhanced hearing picks it up anyway. 

"I don't wanna talk about it." The shakiness is clear in his voice, no matter how hard he's trying to hide it. 

"Okay," Steve sighs. "We'll be here when you want to talk."

He lingers for a moment, his hand pressed flat against the door. He moves back and turns to leave. He's almost at the end of the hall when Peter's door flies open. He turns back just in time for the shaking teenager to slam into his chest. Peter throws his arms around his father and buries his face in his chest. 

They remain silent as Steve wraps his arms around Peter, trying not to let the anger fill him. He's not sure he wants to know who made his son like this because he's not sure he'd be able to hold back. 

"I'm sorry," Peter mumbles, his hands clutched tightly in the fabric of Steve's shirt. His entire body is quivering and his breaths come in shuddering sighs. 

"Do you want to talk about it?" Steve asks quietly, tightening his arms around Peter. It's good that Peter's a lot stronger than an average person because right now, he'd have broken him in half with how tight he's hugging him.

"It... doesn't matter." Peter pulls away and shakes his head. Steve blinks in surprise when he sees Peter's bright red eyes and bruised face. 

"Doesn't matter?" His voice raises in pitch slightly as he reaches up to move Peter's head in different directions so he can get a better look at the cuts and bruises littering his face and neck. 

"Dad, dad, dad!" Peter swats at his hands, stepping back. "I'm fine."

"Peter," Steve says, a warning in his voice.

"It's just some guy at school, I'll be fine," he mumbles, ducking his head. 

"You are _not_ fine."

Peter runs his hands through his perpetually messy brown hair and shakes his head, his eyes wide and wild.

"I'm fine. It's fine." His hands shake as he lowers them to his sides. Something is off, and anyone could see that. 

Steve takes in a deep breath, before shaking his head. "You should talk to your dad, he locked himself in his lab."

Peter's entire body quivers as he nods and follows Steve down to Tony's lab. His arm remains over the teenager's shoulders while they wait, and Peter curls into Steve's side. He hadn't wanted to leave the quiet of his room, but they were relentless, and he couldn't hold it in anymore. 

"He's not letting anyone in," Steve tells him when they arrive at the door. They can hear the hard rock music pulsing inside, despite the walls being sound proof. That's when they know it's bad. 

"He'll let me in," Peter mumbles, detaching himself from Steve's side and hunching over the keypad so Steve can't see it. He types in the override key and steps back, watching as the doors slide open and the music stops. 

Tony immediately looks up from the uncooperative piece of his suit, his eyes narrowed. When he sees Peter, he's immediately on his feet. 

"Peter," the name leaves his mouth in a jumble and he's in front of him before he can blink. "What happened?" His eyes travel over his son's face, taking in the bruises and the cuts. 

"There's a guy," Peter mumbles, "Jimmy."

Tony's jaw clenches and he locks eyes with Steve, before looking back to Peter. 

"Just Jimmy?" he asks, his voice tight. Peter looks up from his hands with wide eyes. 

"Just Jimmy," he says, knowing exactly where this is going. "You don't need to do anything. I can handle myself."

Tony drops the piece of his suit on the table to his right and crosses his arms. "You heal sixty percent faster than average, and you still have bruises. How hard did he hit you?"

Peter clears his throat and looks away. "Hard. He hits hard."

"We're going upstairs," Tony nearly growls, before stalking from the lab and heading to the common room. Peter flinches, quite aware of where this is most likely going. 

When they arrive, Tony has already relayed the newly found information to the rest of the team, and then don't look happy. Bruce looks slightly green, Natasha looks positively murderous, Clint- for once- looks infuriated, and Bucky's metal hand is clenched so tight he's in danger of denting himself. 

"I'm gonna skin him alive," Clint nearly snarls, his fingers curling so tight that he snaps the arrow in his hand. In any other situation, he'd be devastated, but right now, he doesn't seem to care. 

"Wait for me," Natasha says, her voice deadly calm. 

They all gather, ready to attack as if the bully is some kind of big bad when Peter finally speaks up.

"Please stop," he says, his voice nearly inaudible. Everyone freezes and turns to face him. 

"Peter," Clint starts, but Peter shakes his head.

"Please stop." His voice catches as he repeats it. "Just stop."

"This kid deserves-" Tony starts, but the fiery look he receives shuts him up.

"Stop! All of you!" Peter shouts. He runs his hands through his hair again, leaving it sticking up even worse than before. 

"Why didn't you tell us about this?" Steve asks, breaking the tense silence.

"Because I was fine," Peter says shakily. "I was fine, and I'm still fine."

"You are _not_ fine," he replies, stepping towards Peter. The teen steps back, and hurt flickers on Steve's face, before disappearing.

"Of course I am," he says, a delirious sort of finality in his voice. "I'm fine. These are gonna be gone by tomorrow."

"Peter?" Natasha moves around her teammates and approaches him, slowly. "Why didn't you tell us?"

The question is the same, but this time, he reacts differently. 

"Why should I have?" he retaliates, chewing on his lip nervously. 

For a moment, everyone is silent, taking in the appearance of the boy in front of them. He's only been with them for two years, but he became part of the family faster than any of them had. He brought the light to the group, and he brought them together. He was always happy, and he could never quite take anything seriously. In the field, he was always throwing out constant sarcasm and bantering with Clint the entire time. 

But now, this boy in front of him, this is not that Peter. His eyes are red from lack of sleep and shed tears, and his face is sickly white. His shoulders are slightly hunched, and his hands are shaking unconsciously. His hair is even messier than usual, and he can't sit still. The bruises and cuts littering his body aren't helping things. 

"Because we could've helped," she replies, getting close enough to get a better look. A few scars litter his cheek that can be seen underneath one of the more faded bruises. 

"I didn't need help." His breathing comes in short gasps. "I was fine."

"Peter." Natasha's voice is calming and quiet. "He was continuously hurting you. Why did you let that happen? You could've easily fought back."

He falls silent for a moment, before shrugging jerkily. 

"I don't know," he mutters. 

"Yes, you do." 

He blinks at her for a moment, before he looks down to his shaky hands. He twists his fingers nervously. 

"I didn't want to," he finally blurts, and immediately deflates. He hadn't meant to say it.

"You didn't want to? What-" Tony starts but stops immediately when Natasha shoots him a sharp look. 

' _I've got this_.' She mouths, before turning back to Peter. 

"Why not?" she asks, crossing her arms over his chest. She raises an eyebrow when Peter's eyes flick to hers before turning away. 

"I just didn't want to," he grumbles. 

"Peter, you can tell me. I'm not going to be mad." She hits the right button, and he stops fidgeting. 

"I don't wanna talk about it," he grumbles. 

"Peter," she repeats firmly. 

"I deserved it," he says suddenly. 

"What?" Natasha asks, shocked, and a few of their teammates parrot her reaction. Not much surprises her, but this is one of the few things that does. 

"Did you ever think that maybe I deserve this?" he asks, closing his eyes for a moment. 

"Why would you say that?" Natasha forces the shock and shakiness from her voice with expert precision.

"Everyone that I love dies," he chokes. "Both of my parents are dead. Uncle Ben is dead. Aunt May is dead. Harry is practically dead. Gwen almost died." 

"That's not your fault." Natasha reaches forward and rests her hand on his shoulder. Thankfully, he doesn't flinch away. 

"Yeah, it is," he replies, shaking his head. "That's my fault. Jimmy's right." The mention of the name causes anger through the entire group, but no one says anything. 

"Peter, none of that is your fault." Steve steps forward, and Peter still doesn't step back. 

"My parents are dead because they were trying to protect me. Uncle Ben is dead because he went after me. Aunt May is dead because I wasn't there. Harry is the way he is because of me. Gwen almost died because I was the only reason she was there," Peter rambles, his breathing getting heavier and heavier as he goes. 

"Peter." Natasha's smooth voice breaks through the veil of panic. He stops moving and turns to look at her. "Your parents did not die because of you, they died because someone didn't understand the value of their lives. Uncle Ben is not dead because of you, he is dead because he was a good man, and wanted to stop the destruction of other lives. Aunt May is not dead because of you, she is dead because it was her time." 

By now, Peter's breathing has steadied, but his hands are still shaking and his shoulders are still quivering. Natasha has both hands resting on his upper arms, holding him in place. It's like she's the only thing holding him up. And maybe that's how he feels because right now, he's not so sure he can do anything right. His mind is in a whirlwind, one that he can't control. 

"What happened to Harry has nothing to do with you. If you had given him what he wanted, it would've ended just as badly as it did, maybe worse. Gwen is still alive. If she wanted to stay out of trouble, she wouldn't have any involvement with you."

Peter stares down at his feet for a moment, before nodding.

"'m sorry."

"For what?"

"Not telling you." He glances around the room, avoiding all gazes. Steve steps forward and holds his arms out for his son. Peter doesn't hesitate in throwing himself at Steve and wrapping his arms around him. Steve either doesn't notice or doesn't seem to mind when Peter's adhesive fingers stick to his shirt. Immediately, Tony is by their side, his eyes ablaze with concern and anger. 

Steve glances at his husband through the corner of his eye, raising an eyebrow. Tony immediately nods. A quick glance around the room says that their teammates are thinking the same thing.

 

* * *

****

They don't mention it again, but they don't let it go. It doesn't happen until three days later, on Monday. 

Jimmy is walking home from school and takes a shortcut through an alley. Well, he's gonna regret that for the rest of his life.

He takes his first step, only to be shoved roughly from behind. He hits the ground with a thud, landing directly in a puddle. 

"What the fuck?" he grumbles, propping himself up on his elbows. His eyes widen when a form lands in front of him, emitting a loud metallic _clank_.

"You Jimmy?" the voice echoes through the alley, and Jimmy's eyes widen with awe. 

"Y-yeah," he stammers, in slight shock that _Iron Man_ is in front of him. 

But then, it isn't just Iron Man. Then, Captain America joins him. Then the Winter Soldier. Then the Black Widow. Then Hawkeye. And they all have their weapons trained on him.

"W-what's going on?" He can barely get the words out, and he still hasn't managed to stand.

Hawkeye doesn't shift his aim as he raises an eyebrow.

"You fucked up, kid." 

**Author's Note:**

> i tried my hardest to weed out all of the mistakes, but considering i wrote this over the course of three hours at four in the morning, i've decided to cut myself some slack.


End file.
